Exploring and implementing brand tone of voice

11th November 2013

Roberto Cavalli

Design equation:  Animal Print
                  Exotic Print

- Italian           - Embellished        - Printed
- Luxury            - Browns             - Ethnic
- Interiors         - Women              - Children
- Menswear          - Exclusive          - Bags
- Gym               - Alcohol

Exclusivity: Online/in-store/high end department stores e.g.                  Harrods and Selfridges

Online - Keep packaging high end looking - need to keep brand              image without people entering the store

Possible Competitors - Pucci
                       Valentino
                       Alexander McQueen

Introduction to market research and trends

8th November

Research Sources

Primary Sources:
- Experiments
- Field Study
- Surveys - Questionnaires/Interviews
- Prototypes

Secondary Sources:
- Literature review - Books/Journals/Research papers
- Case Study - News/Products/Practices

Michael Kors,
'Fashion used to come from one source at a time, be it the street, the runways or the entertainment business. The interesting thing about today is that influences come from high and low - everything from couture to target'.

Trend Research Analysis:
Pestled/Brand/Consumer/Competition/Media/Product

Types of trends

Long term:
- Political   - Sociocultural  - Environment  - Economy   
- Technology  - Demographics   - Legal

Short term:
- Brand   - Competition   - Product   - Consumer   - Media

Trend timescales

Megatrends - Impacts of climate change
Socio-cultural trends - environmental
Consumer trends - youths start to rethink consumption
Behavioural trends - green packages e.g. unpackaged shopping
Solutions & products - reusable shopping bags

Dominant mega trends:
- Globalisation   - Digital   - Health & wellbeing   
- Environment

Long term trends 

Social:
- Ageless society   - Body perfection   - Networked society
- Personalisation   - Globalisation/homogenisation

Technology:
- Moblie/mobile payment NFC   - Personalisation
- Ecommerce                   - 3D Printing
- Price comparison/reviews    - Click and collect (ASOS)
- QR codes                    - Social media
- Wearable technology         - Interactive retail
- Apps                        - Live participation

Environment:
- Environment/globalisation   - Closer to market
- Faster: reduce lead times   - More flexible: customisation

Short term trends

Consumer:
Street -> Celebrity

Competition:
Catwalk -> In store -> Visual merchandising 
-> Advertising/Promotion

Media:
Print -> Film/TV -> Music -> Photography -> Art

Products:
Colour -> Materials -> Prints -> Patterns -> Design

Motif Trend - Brand Handwriting

5th November 2013

When looking at brand handwriting there are many design elements to consider including:

- Colour               - Signature
- Pattern              - Letter form/Font
- Monogram             - Media/Material
- Product

An example is Schiaparelli pink

Ella Schiaparelle was around in the 1930s and the Schiaparelli pink represented the shocking, bold, feminine and strong attitude of the brand.
It also shows the individual, unique, flamboyant and surreal aspects.





Below are other example of other brands that have strong associations with colours:




On the left is Christian Louboutin
red and on the right is Louis Vuitton brown.








The orange on the left is associated with Hermes due to it being a strong colour used throughout collections and packaging. Whereas the colour on the left is solely used for Tiffany packaging.








These colours are both representative of flagship stores in London. The right Selfridges and left Liberty.

Brand Values and Essence

4th November 2013

'A brand is a promise delivered'

Brand DNA (components of a brand):

1) Brand Vision - The future
2) Brand Mission - Why the brand exists
3) Brand Promise - The pledged experience
4) Brand Values - How vision and promises are delivered
5) Brand Position - How we are seen in the market place
6) Brand Personalities - What people associate with us, brand stories, brand identity

Functional Values: Define the practical benefits offered by the products/services

Emotional Values: Derived from our internal values

What is brand DNA?

- Refers to brands distinctiveness, novelty and attributes as compared to those of the competition

- Establishes the blueprint for the customer service and employee brand experience

- Must be unique in its own way

Brand Essence Model - the core single brand idea or key words

Brand Essence:

- Brand promise expressed in simplest terms

- Human personality reflected in a signature, brand essence and self image can be reflected in symbols

- The most powerful brand essence is rooted in the fundamental customer needs

Brand tone of voice - how it talks to consumers

- How brand talks to audience
- All communication coming out of a well-branded company should sound as well as look right

Helmut Lang Mood board

31st October 2013

This is my completed mood board for Helmut Lang for our group brand presentation. I have included a variety of images from left-right:

Top Row - Issey Miyake structured dress, Japanese house, scanned White Stuff necklace, Alexander Wang image, scanned printed top

Bottom Row - Scanned black disco pants, Scanned black fabric, Alexander Wang image, Zara model, Helmut Lang shop window and image of Helmut Lang's menswear

I decided not to do squares of colours as we had been shown in the Photoshop workshop as these seemed too harsh for Helmut Lang. This is due to Helmut Lang selling mainly textured items and so I think the scanned versions work better to show the colour.

However, I am going to try to improve my Photoshop skills to enable me to improve the composition of the mood board. 

Helmut Lang Brand Analysis

29th October 2013

WHAT is the benefit & purpose of the brand?

Helmut Lang offers luxury apparel for both men and women throughout its stores in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and the United States. The benefit of the brand for me is the price range – as although it is a luxury brand some products could be described as affordable luxury, this is shown in the images below

Left image – Two-tone wool-blend top £225 

Right image - Fontana hooded leather trimmed rabbit gilet £1,530

WHO is the target customer?

This is a difficult question to answer with a brand that

Supplies to such a wide range of countries as within

that there is such a  diverse range of people. I believe

the target consumer is fashion conscious people who

follow trends but want classic items that can be mixed

with on trend items. The target customer would  have

to be someone in their mid to late twenties with a highly paid full time job due to the price of the items.

AGAINST WHOM is the competition?

I think Helmut Lang’s closest competitor is probably

Alexander Wang due to the style of the garments and

price range within the brand. However Alexander

Wang’s prices seem generally higher ranging from

£400 to well over £1000

The image on the right shows the prices of Alexander

Wang items from the netaporter website which are

similar to Helmut Lang’s more premium products.

Case Study Of Converse

24th October 2013

Converse's brand image has changed drastically over the years it has been linked to basketball, punk movements and then Nike. However, the Nike ad campaign in 2005 caused a major threat to the brand and brand image due to it completely contrasting to what Converse stands for. 

'Discovering that Nike had bought Converse was like hearing Elvis Costello had started writing singles for Microsoft'

New 2013 campaign: Converse Get Loud

http://getloud.converse.co.uk/ 

Through YouTube videos and collaborations they have kept themselves current and up to date. 

2013 has seen them collaborating with Wiz Khalifa and Maison Martin Margiela

Maison Martin Margiela is a Belgian fashion designer who graduated from the Royal academy of art in 1979.  He is a founding member of the Avant-garde fashion collective 'the antwerp six'.

He created a range of coloured Converse that he painted white so that as they are worn they reveal the colour below.